Using the perspectives of law, politics, public policy and intergovernmental relations, historian Barry Cahill describes the complex activities of an almost-unaccountable agency that took the place of municipal, provincial and federal governments in addressing the needs of the citizens and the city after the Explosion. He provides new insight into the pioneering town planning and construction of the Hydrostone neighbourhood in Halifax.

He also explains why this ad-hoc disaster agency continued to operate for nearly sixty years after the catastrophic event that precipitated its establishment.

This book offers a new and unique perspective on the recovery efforts which followed a domestic disaster unprecedented in Canadian history.

BARRY CAHILL is an independent historian whose work focuses on Atlantic Canada. He has written numerous historical pieces on the region's legal history and has also written extensively on religious history, with a focus on Canadian Presbyterianism. He is also a former editor of the Nova Scotia Historical Review. Cahill is also a Certified Information Access and Privacy Officer in the Economic and Rural Development and Tourism Department of the Government of Nova Scotia. He was formerly a Corporate Projects Analyst and Senior Archivist in the Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management Department of the Government of Nova Scotia. Cahill lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

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